Control is the next step; monitoring means to have the mind interfering with the thought or the world or your actions and I am asking you to just be aware that there are many things that happen with awareness. As soon as you become aware, you want to change something because you think that it is not right; and who is that is thinking? Who is thinking that this is not right? It’s your mind. The mind is useful but never in this sense where it guides our hand into everything… So, your two weeks of intensive, this is how this is intensive! Because you are going to immerse your attention into yourself. It is difficult in a place like Goa with all the distractions immediately as you go out of the centre. What to do… We are where we are, but if you want to work on yourself intensively, which I hope is the case. And you are going to ask yourself – is this the case? Then you are in the right place. Understand. You cannot do deep work just by being with the body; it’s gross. How deep will you go? But if you are willing to take on also the mind – this makes a change. Then what happens when we become aware? Things start to change automatically and it does not matter whether the results are positive; that does not matter: what matter is that I gave my total attention to it; that is what matters and we do not do that often. I am trying to make you see the two weeks ahead of us. I am not interested in pushing you around; why should I? I said the theme for this course; I am setting the theme; the rest is up to you. If you are honest, you go far, and if you are not, you stay where you are, it is up to you. I indicate, go this way, this is the way of the intensive work on yourself. So, let’s spend our two weeks aware.
Himalayan Iyengar Yoga Centre
Yoga Master Teacher Sharat Arora
Arambol Yoga Centre, North Goa, March 2012